Review: A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping
- tatedecaro
- 5 hours ago
- 2 min read
4/5 stars
Having read and thoroughly enjoyed The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches last year, I was excited to read Mandanna's most recent witchy novel. The characters are all new, though the premise is similar - loner witch hiding from society finds community with other witches and misfits. But here, she owns a B&B! A special one that can only be found by people who are in need of a safe space.
Sera Swan, a witch, and her non-witch Aunt Jasmine run the inn together. Sera can do minor spells to help keep the inn going, but she lost most of her power when she was quite young, performing a forbidden spell to bring Aunt Jasmine back from the dead. Sera was once the shining jewel of the witch's Guild - powerful beyond all measure, apart from her assigned mentor Albert Grey, a cantankerous, jealous man intent on keeping Sera "in her place." When Sera is exiled from the Guild, he's at the heart of the decision.
Sera has tried to find ways of getting her magic back, but to no avail, since the only spellbook that might have the answer is in the Guild's library, which she cannot access. In the meantime, she and her gang of quirky weirdos inhabit the inn. In addition to the aunt, there is:
Clemmie, a witch who trapped herself in a fox's body in an attempt to curse someone else (she would also very much like to get her paws on that spellbook to reverse the bounce-back curse)
Theo, Sera's young cousin, also a witch
Sir Nicholas of Mayfair, a young man who plays a knight at the local medieval fair, but acts the part all the time, complete with shining armor
Matilda, a doddering woman with a public love of gardening, and a private love for Aunt Jasmine
Roo-Roo, a skeleton rooster Sera accidentally resurrected along with her aunt
Added to this are Luke, librarian and historian at the Guild, and his autistic sister, Posy, both witches, who come upon the inn haphazardly, and end up playing a significant role in the lives of all the inn's inhabitants. In particular, Luke assists in Sera's search for a way to get her magic back. If you like a bit of romance, this book has that. I tend not to love that, but this meet-cute is... pretty cute.
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